"These are a few of my favorite things"

Well, can you believe we have been here for over 9 months?! I CANNOT believe it! We made it through school, Hallelujah!! We made it through 5 sports! We made it through our first winter up here!  We are still together as a family! :) 
I am grateful for God seeing us through this past year, this move, the transition.  So much has happened since we arrived up here in Northern Oklahoma.  I will share the next step for our family on the next post, but for now, I wanted to share with you some of my "favorites" up here.  Yes, there are many things I miss about home in Texas, but the Lord has shown me some really neat things up here to appreciate and enjoy.  Hope these pictures give you a little glimpse of some of them.

1. The Fall Colors

They were absolutely beautiful!! What a treat to have a REAL Fall.

2.  The cool temperatures.

Another benefit of having a real Fall.  We so enjoyed wearing jackets from September through November, and getting to visit a real pumpkin patch in Kansas.  So fun!!

3.  The Snow!!! 

Yehaw!! We had so much fun sledding, right out in our back yard, and it was beautiful!!

And so fun that we had snow shovels, salt, and ice/snow shoe tractions in EVERY store!

4. The Eagles!!  

We got to see so many eagles this Winter.  They winter here, making a home out at Kaw Lake, Lake Ponca, and even in Ponca proper.  We actually had one fly right outside our kitchen window!! That was one of my favorites!!

5.  The colors of our school.  

I LOVE the navy and red.  Makes for a great uniform!!

6.  The Spring flowers.  

Amazing how the colors just started popping up everywhere.  I actually even have some in my yard, and I usually kill everything, but things just seem to grow easier up here.

7.  All the neighborhood kids.  

My kids walk outside and there is always someone ready to play or hang out with them.  So fun! They are usually out until the sun goes down, then I call them in with my whistle!

And yes!!! That is a baby raccoon that Esther found one day while riding her horse!!

8.  The beautiful historic buildings and homes.  

From the Marland Mansion, to the museums, to the lovely homes along the red brick streets, I am always seeing something worth looking at every day in Ponca.

9.  The friends that have welcomed us into their lives.  

Football guys, lunch buddies, volleyball girls, and neighbors.  They have made us feel right at home.

10.  The hometown parades.  

Makes you feel like your in Mayberry and the whole town comes to watch.

11.  Prom.  

Sounds like a funny thing to love about Ponca, but it's a big deal up here, and thanks to the Wilsons, we were able to save our spot for the Grand March, and come out with all the town to watch the kids parade around the grounds to the Marland Mansion.

The Wilsons came out to stake our claim the week before the Grand March and Prom. Each tarp represents a family's area to sit.

Jesse and his date, Hannah.

Walking around the grounds in the Grand March.

Look at all the people. They estimate several thousand come out to watch.

God's glory is revealed in all this, in the faces of people that have welcomed us in, in the nature that reflects His beauty, and the majesty of watching an eagle fly or seeing the snow fall so softly. I am grateful He has allowed us to experience all this here in Ponca.

Next time I will post on some changes that are happening and where the Lord is leading us next.

In His grace,
JJ Ford